20/11/2025
MotoGP Roundup – València, Spain
If you consider that, a year ago, this circuit looked more like a warzone than a Grand Prix track due to the scary floods that’d hit Valencia just before we were due to race there, the pristine condition of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo this year was nothing less than commendable. It welcomed us back with open arms and pleasant sunshine – we missed you too, València!
Moto3:
Roulstone’s back!
A quick update: Rueda’s already roaming the pits, trying his hand at being an Umbrella Girl, while Dettwiler’s full of spark and his recovery’s going swell.
Ogden’s race didn’t last very long – the Brit decided to go bike-bowling out of Turn Eight on the opening lap.
Two laps later, Kelso tried to copy Ogden’s bowling moves, though he did so out of Turn Fourteen. Unlike Ogden, Kelso returned to the race afterwards.
Mitani dropped his ride somewhere along the track’s perimeter on the fifteenth lap, then tried to yank it back onto its wheels by pulling at the handlebar with the persistence of a toddler trying to show their parent a new toy.
During Lap Sixteen, the uncommon Mystery Yellows were spotted in Sector Two.
With just two laps to go, Morelli became the first – and only – rider to upgrade his Track Limits Warning into a full Long Lap Penalty. He decided to ignore this, however, and was slapped with a three-second penalty post-race instead.
Queue the reasonably exciting five-rider final-lap group-debate over the podium positions…
Fernández defended his lead beautifully, securing his maiden Moto3 victory at the very track where big brother Raúl had gotten his.
Furusato initially crossed the line in second, followed closely by Carpe, but was quickly dropped a position for his VERY obvious green-paint-moment on the last lap. This meant Carpe was now second, and Furusato third.
Bertelle was also dropped a position for the same reason.
Further down the line, Moodley finished the race in an anonymous twenty-second place.
Moto2:
The final Moto2 race of the season. It all came down to this: González had to win the race in order to have any hope of salvaging the championship, while Moreira – already polishing the trophy – merely had to finish better than fifteenth if he did.
Following a nasty crash on Friday, which broke bones in both his arms, Huertas was absent from the last racing action of 2025.
During the opening lap, Baltus’ bike got spooked by Canet checking up abruptly on the inside of Turn Two, which sent Baltus on a collision course with a totally oblivious Muñoz. The duo went tumbling off, Baltus executing a perfect over-the-bars dismount before coming down hard on the tar run-off.
Alonso was punted wide in the chaos, but somehow managed to ride out the churning wave of motorcycles and riders, and continued racing like nothing had happened.
It took a few laps of deliberation, but Canet was eventually handed a Double Long Lap Penalty for his role in their falling-off.
Escrig was also given a Double Long Lapper, but in his case it was due to a sneaky Jumpstart.
On Lap Six, García became Turn Two’s latest victim as he was ripped from his seat, then proceeded to armadillo as he slid off the track.
Fernández fell off a few corners later, at Turn Eight.
We also lost Garzo on Lap Eight.
After seventeen laps of pushing everything he had to the utmost limit, González suddenly lost his momentum on the eighteenth lap. When Moreira blew past him, he looked like he was on a cruise through the Valencian countryside, not in the middle of one of the most important races of his life.
Had he overcooked his rubber? His glaring glance down at the rear of his motorcycle certainly suggested it was something along those lines.
By the end of the lap, González pulled into pit lane, giving himself a not-at-all-sarcastic round of applause.
Some gesticulations and conversations later, he returned to the track, so that he could at least end the season respectfully.
Meanwhile, Guevara did a stellar defensive job at the head of the field in order to secure his first-ever win in Moto2, making him the sixth different rider to do so this season.
Holgado had to settle for a close second, while Ortolá celebrated his maiden Moto2 podium in third.
But all of that aside, we could finally announce that Moreira was officially your Moto2 Champion for 2025 – the first time a Brazilian rider has lifted the Champion’s Trophy in any of the MotoGP classes, ever.
Tears flowed. Brazil announced a public holiday on Monday. All the rainbow clown-wigs within a hundred-kilometre radius of the circuit were sold out.
A four-man, totally legit football all-star line-up met Moreira trackside, kicking an oversized football in his direction.
This prompted a short display of Moreira showing off his soccer moves, before he returned to his bike and the crowd adorned him – by now already in his number ten soccer jersey – with his Brazilian-flag-coloured, gently gilded Champion’s helmet.
It’s no mean feat to overthrow a sixty-one-point deficit, the greatest recovery of points ever seen in Moto2. We’re totally not gloating when we remind you that we warned you about Moreira.
Amidst the burnouts, chanting, and general celebration, tears were flowing on the opposite side of the boxing ring: such a defeat would never be easy to process, as the tears and look of utter dejection on González’s face testified.
MotoGP:
As Martín returned to the grid for what would essentially be a practice session in full race-weekend guise, Oliveira made his final appearance on that same grid, amidst much fanfare.
Though not on the track himself, mister Poncharal had played an irreplaceable part in Tech3 KTM’s existence. But now, we bid him farewell, too.
Razgatlıoğlu, the WorldSBK triple champion, was so eager to get into his new job, that he was seen skulking around the paddock and pits all weekend long, soaking in every bit of information he could by means of rider-photosynthesis.
Sprint Race:
By the time the Sprint Race got underway, the sunshine had been exchanged for some grey-looking clouds.
Not to worry, though. No rain was dropped on the thirteen laps of Saturday racing.
On just the second lap, the two factory Hondas clattered off together at Turn Two. Upon further inspection, it was seen that Mir had dived up the inside of the pack, locked up his brakes, and subsequently toppled over. As it happened, Marini was the lucky winner of a plus-one ticket to Tumble-Town, as Mir’s horisontal Honda scooped up Marini’s then-upright Honda.
Now, Mir was barely on his feet when he began begging for forgiveness from his teammate so profusely, he was one mean side-eye from Marini away from falling to his knees and kissing Luca’s boots.
One lap later, Miller went kamikaze pilot on Aldeguer, not only clipping the latter’s wings – literally – but very nearly amputating his left arm as well. Staying upright, and managing to continue riding with one hand ripped off the handlebars, earned Aldeguer our personal Save of the Day Award. Because that’s exactly what that was.
Along with a nice helping of wing-tearing karma…
Shortly after the contact, Miller was told to drop three positions. The Aussie promptly ignored this penalty, and was eventually scolded into doing a Long Lap instead.
Martín did a little sightseeing on Lap Four, taking a detour at Turn Four which brought him a little close to that solid wall in our opinion.
In the end, and by a comfortable margin, Márquez – the one riding, not the one in the pits! – claimed the last Sprint victory of 2025. Second place went to Acosta, while Di Giannantonio held out in order to take third.
Binder, ever so quietly, snuck up into eighth.
Post-race, a seemingly steaming Bezzecchi stomped through his garage towards his chair, and sat down hard enough to bend its leg. Obviously, he was not happy with how his Sprint Race went.
Main Race:
Márquez Junior was either trying out for the role of Silver Surfer, or he’d fallen – Ducati, leathers and all – into a vat of radioactive chrome paint.
Not that it didn’t look cool. We merely had our concerns over potentially blinding any rider who came close to him.
The final race of 2025 kicked off the drama before the lights could even come on.
As the riders filtered onto the grid after their Warm-Up Lap, as they’ve all done countless times before, Morbidelli suddenly clattered into the rear of Aleix’s already stationary machine, which sent a flustered Morbidelli and bike spinning off to one side, while an even more flustered Aleix looked back to see what had hit him.
Luckily, they managed to pull Morbidelli and his damaged Ducati off the grid fast enough to avoid a delay in the start, and so the rest of the pack sped off, a piece of smouldering bodywork dropping from Espargaro’s exhaust – likely from Morbidelli’s machine.
Frankie ended up not racing, his hand – and bike – damaged beyond rapid repair. In fact, he’d hit the stationary Honda so hard, a bone in his right hand had fractured.
We’re almost as impressed as we are baffled.
The race had barely gotten underway, when more catastrophe occurred: Zarco lined up the divebomb of all divebombs into Turn Five, which saw him punt both Bagnaia and Ogura wide. Though Ogura managed to survive the onslaught, Bagnaia was not so lucky: after careening off into the gravel, his Ducati gently toppled over, signalling the fifth DNF in a row for the Italian star.
Bagnaia took a moment, sitting on his knees in the kitty litter, to lament his 2025 season – and to consider just how relieved he was that it was over.
Zarco was eventually handed a Long Lap Penalty for ‘causing a crash’.
He was not the only rider with a Long Lap pass, though: Martín had brought a Double Long Lapper along after his Sprint antics, while Mir also had one Long Lap Penalty to serve for similar reasons.
After surviving the Zarco episode, Ogura ended up sliding off at the first turn, after starting Lap Seven. While his bike sliced its way through the gravel, Ogura slid after it on elbows and knees, then proceeded to hit the gravel so hard, it filed assault charges.
Having lasted fourteen laps, Martín was instructed to retire from the race, and promptly slowed, waving his hand in the air. He arrived at his garage to a hero’s welcome.
Viñales retired to the pits by the end of Lap Twenty-Three.
While navigating the track for the twenty-fourth time, Quartararo went for the traditional version of the dismount-slide out of Turn Six. The waddle-walk after suggested a potential bruising of areas not mentionable on live stream.
Sometime before the end of the race, but after Quartararo’s crash, we lost Aleix Espargaró.
Having defended his lead comfortably, Bezzecchi claimed the win, the first time ever Aprilia has had two race wins consecutively.
Fernández – that sparky Raúl – finished second, while Di Giannantonio held on for another third-place finish.
Binder did much the same thing as he did in the Sprint, ending the race eighth overall.
Hold the press! Did Bez just propose…? To his Aprilia?? Nice ring, though we suspect he’s dug his own grave now: can’t be proposing to your bike, and leaving the girlfriend wanting.
As a final send-off, Oliveira did a beautiful burnout in front of his pit box, deserving of a ten-out-of-ten score.
There you go, ladies, gents, wolves, cats, bats, chairs, rocks, flesh-blobs, etc.: the racing’s done for the year.
No more MotoGP for a few months. We know this might be hard to endure, but please bear with us: we’ll try to keep you distracted with some other near-sane content in the meantime.
~ Karr
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